Liam O’Regan hit his third home run of the season but the Newport Gulls fell to the Danbury Westerners, 6–1 on Tuesday night at Rogers Park. Newport starting pitcher David Palmer received the loss hurling six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts.
The Westerners took a 1–0 lead in the third inning on Kevin Mahollen’s RBI single. After Palmer held Danbury scoreless for the next two frames, the Westerners would increase their lead in the sixth inning to 3–0 on solo home runs from Joe Drpich and Justin Drpich. During the seventh inning, Danbury erupted for three runs as a three-run homer off the bat of Giavonni Dingcong put the Westerners in front, 6–0.
The Gulls would answer in the ninth inning as O’Regan blasted a solo shot over the left field fence to cut Newport’s deficit to 6–1. O’Regan and Nicholas Raposo paced the Gulls’ offense with two hits each as Danbury outhit Newport 8–7. For the Gulls, reliever Dylan D’Anna tossed 1.2 innings, surrendering one earned run on one hit while striking out two batters.
Tonight, the Gulls (2–4) will host the Danbury Westerners (4–1) on Newport Art Museum Night at 6:35 p.m. from Cardines Field. 250 free water bottles will be given out courtesy of St. Michael’s Day School.